Chapter 388: It’s better to cry all the way than to cry for a family

Li Mian's heart had already sunk to the abyss. He finally knew what the charges Zhang Huan wanted to frame them, "rebellion, kidnapping the queen mother". No matter which of these two charges was a serious crime of being executed, his heart was about to bleed. Although he knew that the possibility of failure was far greater than success, at this moment, he still felt completely disappointed.

The people in the royal family were already in a mess, and everyone's eyes showed extremely fearful eyes, "Li Shangshu, I actually don't want to participate, you killed me!"

"I surrender, don't kill me." Li Chenghong jumped out of the carriage and ran back desperately with unprecedented courage. He waved his arms while running, "I am actually your governor's spy, spare me..."

He suddenly froze, and a wolf-tooth arrow emerged from the back of his head. He fell straight to the ground, his body twitching unwillingly.

Li Chenghong's death frightened all the royal families, and people began to burst into tears.

A large drop of sweat dripping from Li Mian's forehead flowed downwards. He knew that Zhang Huan was really going to take the imperial family this time. With a glance, he suddenly found that Li Qi had secretly taken off his dragon robe. He was riding on a horse at some point, but he was still wearing a three-beam crown on his head. A thought flashed through him. He had arranged five thousand servants outside, and the city must have been in chaos. Now the only way is to escape from the imperial city first and then leave Chang'an while the chaos is taking advantage of the chaos. Li Mian yelled, "Get out of Jingfengmen quickly."

The royal carriage group was less than thirty steps away from the fork in the road. A thousand Duan Xiushi's personal guards turned north and resisted the rushing cavalry. In this moment, Li Mian and others got a first-line opportunity, rushed across the intersection and fled towards Jingfengmen. The shouts of killing in the imperial city were shocked. The two armies fought together on the streets of Anshangmen, with corpses all over the ground and blood flowing into a river. Many officials who had originally ran out to watch the fun were so scared that they fled back to the office. The gate was closed. Everyone only knew that someone kidnapped the empress dowager and rebelled, but they didn't understand the specific situation. However, most people guessed that this must be the people who opposed Zhang Huan started to act.

Although Duan Xiushi's personal guards were strong, they were infantrymen and were weaker than cavalry. In particular, the cavalry guarding the Daming Palace and Taiji Palace were under the banner of the Tianqi Camp, and were composed of the most elite cavalry of the Anxi Army.

Their hard crossbows were immediately accurate, and the arrows killed people's lives. The speed of the crossbows was unparalleled. They often shot one-on-one shots, and the crossbows immediately turned into swords and slashed out horizontally. They did not fight one-on-one. Often, four or five people besieged one person, and cold arrows were used on the periphery. If they succeed, they immediately changed another person, and cooperated very well.

Amid the screams, Duan Xiushi's personal guard suffered heavy losses. In just a moment, more than half of his life and injuries were lost, and he retreated step by step in the direction of Jingfengmen. At this time, the royal families who had already rushed to Jingfengmen were completely indifferent. They imagined that the image of Yonglie who led 800 guards to guard the gate was not seen. They saw that the dense army blocked the gate, and the ground was filled with dead bodies, and countless arrows flashing with cold light were aimed at them. Li Mian suddenly saw Li Shen and his son, and they had become two heads hanging on the saddle of an officer.

"The Queen Mother is in our hands, you dare to be rude!"

Li Mian shouted in despair, but what answered him was the arrows coming from the sky. Each arrow shot mercilessly with the grim smile of death. Li Mian suddenly turned dark in front of him. In the darkness, he saw the coffin lid in the secret room slowly opening.

"Kill! No one is left except the Queen Mother." This is the last sentence he heard in the world.

At the same time when the war broke out in the imperial city, a short battle broke out on Zhuque Street, or to be precise, a one-sided massacre. The miscellaneous army composed of five thousand servants collapsed under the impact of the Longyou Army only once. They were frightened by the rolling heads, broken limbs and arms, and were frightened by the overflowing internal organs. They threw down their swords and ran around, but the gates were closed, and they had nowhere to escape, and they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

A farce of replacing a new emperor initiated by Li Mian soon ended, but this farce was not a comedy or dramatic ending. It was the beginning of a bloody storm, a must-pass path for the replacement of emperors, and a bloody plunder that accumulated primitive wealth for the reform of the Tang Dynasty. Under the order that Zhang Huan was not as good as the family crying, the Longyou Army, who had been silent, finally showed its hideous face.

Starting from noon, the Shiwang House where the royal family lives, announced martial law. Teams of fully armed soldiers began to arrest people from house to house according to the list found in Li Mian's mansion. None of the family members involved in the rebellion were spared. All men over 18 years old were taken to Dongneiyuan to behead, and the other women, children, young and old were detained elsewhere, preparing to exile to Anxi. Their property was confiscated, the land was confiscated, and the slaves were released. In just half a day, 386 children of the royal family were killed, and bloody winds enveloped the sky above the Shiwang House.

Not only the Ten Kings House, but many royal families and powerful mansions lived in Chang'an, scattered, and the royal palaces were also facing a catastrophe. The gates of various royal palaces were filled with Chang'an people who came to see the fun. When teams of gorgeously dressed men and women were escorted out of the house in dejectedly, eggs and stones were everywhere at the sky smashed the men and women who were usually arrogant, and cursed and ridiculed.

From noon, the sound of firecrackers in each shop continued until late at night. On this day, crying and laughing were heard, and the faint crying was finally covered by the joyful cheers.

At night, Pei You's carriage was running all the way. In the carriage, Pei You, Han Huan and Lu Qi looked heavy, and no one spoke. The carriage ran quickly. Pei You stared out the window, and light flashed in front of the car window from time to time. He saw huge white paper sticking to the wall. It was a list of ninety-seven rebels who participated in the rebellion and the kidnap of the Empress Dowager. It was covered in Chang'an City, and this list could be seen everywhere. Regardless of the truth or not, these ninety powerful families had already made a conclusion.

Pei You sighed, "It's too cruel. Just kill a few leaders. I won't let any of the ninety-seven royal families go, hey!"

At this time, Lu Qi, who was standing by, also felt enlightened and said, "I can see that his real purpose is to ask for land, food, and money. He almost killed all the richest people in the Tang Dynasty in one network, and his tax check in Jiangdu. This time, I don't know how much grain and land he can get. I think it's at least 10 or 20 million yuan! It's such a bloody accumulation of wealth!"

"The country is robbing money and food for the people of the world, so what's wrong with it? It's better to plunder these wealthy and unkind royal families than to plunder ordinary people!" Han Huan was a little dissatisfied with Lu Qi's tone, and he said angrily: "Shangshu Lu lives in a rich and elegant manner, and does not take a step forward in Chang'an. He doesn't know how miserable the people in the world are. How many people have been taken away by these royal families and become their slaves and tenants. How can you know how many people are displaced in the Central Plains?

As the summer harvest is approaching, how many acres of wheat fields can you see in the thousand-mile Central Plains? Millions of people have to be relieved until autumn. How much money do you think the government still has? You go to a county in the Central Plains, where there are no groups of refugees, and where there are no orphans whose parents die. They are hungry and cold, and they live in broken kilns and ruined houses. Who is the Tang royal family that accounts for half of the world's wealth and is willing to pay a penny or a grain of rice to help them?"

Lu Qi was very uncomfortable with his hearing, and he snorted coldly, "That's their fate. Who told them not to be born in a wealthy family? But what is important is who should the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty speak for? If he doesn't speak for the wealthy families, can he still speak for the lower class people?"

Han Huan was furious. He pushed open the car window and pointed out the window and said to Lu Qi, "Listen, what does the sound of firecrackers in the city mean? This is the heart of the people. A family crying brings laughter all the way. The country should be based on the people. Only when the people are rich can the country be strong. A hundred and ten royal families occupy all the wealth of the world. Can the Tang Dynasty be strong? It can attract worship from all nations and be called the Khan of the Heavenly Khan?"

"Okay! OK!" Pei You interrupted the two of them's argument, "Don't argue with the two colleagues, let's think about reality! How to clean up the mess today?"

Lu Qi was in a bad mood today. Li Shan died when he had always had a relationship with him. Several sons were taken to Dongneiyuan to behead him. He was helpless. At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a little resentment towards Zhang Huan, but he dared not reveal this resentment. He glanced at Pei You and sarcastically said: "Peo Shangshu laughed so much. Do you have to think about how to clean up this mess? I don't believe you didn't participate in the planning of this massacre in advance."

"Stop!" Pei You's face immediately became gloomy. When the carriage stopped, he said coldly to Lu Qi: "Shu Lu, it's important tonight. You seem to be unstable. You'd better ask for it back!"

Lu Qi's face turned red and white, and he suddenly stomped his feet, "Okay, go and flatter the power! I'll mourn the dead."

He immediately pushed open the car door and walked out of the carriage, turned over the horse, and walked away with several guards.

Looking at the news in the night, Han Huan said harshly, "Phoo!" and cursed in a low voice: "What!"

"Forget it, their Lu family and Li Shen have always had a deep relationship. This time Li Shen was the first to be killed. Of course he will not be in a good mood, so let him go!"

Pei You sighed. He always thought that Zhang Huan's killing was too heavy, which would probably arouse many people's dissatisfaction. He closed his eyes and thought about how to persuade Zhang Huan to spare these royal women and children and exile Anxi. That would be too miserable.

Han Huan was very excited and had a long time to calm down. He saw Zhang Huan's courage and determination to reform in this massacre. He also closed his eyes and began to conceive his first memorial, "establishing the Tang Dynasty's Federation of Trades", which was an idea he had long had.

The carriage accelerated in the darkness and drove quickly towards the Tai Chi Palace.

In the Tai Chi Palace, Cui Xiaofu lay on the couch with a pale face. She had washed away all her hair and her old face was undoubtedly exposed, but she no longer cared, and her heart was dead.

During a massacre at Jingfengmen at noon, all the royal families around her were killed. She saw Li Mian being shot into her head with her own eyes, and saw Li Qiu being cut to death with her own eyes. The bloody and cruel scenes were still waving away in her mind. The princes' begging and despair before they died, and when she returned to the palace, she realized that the little emperor was also poisoned to death. Today, she once again experienced the cruelty of the battle for the throne.

She suddenly remembered the last shout when Li Yu was killed, "My son will avenge me!"

The scene that was almost forgotten by the years appeared so clearly in front of her. That day, under a plum tree outside her window, the sad spring passed away, the sword suddenly emerged, and murderous aura was everywhere. The people in the palace ran around. She hid in the room of the late emperor, but witnessed a bloody scene with her own eyes. Li Yu's sad cry was deeply engraved in her heart, but she did not expect that it would finally work today twenty-eight years later.

Maybe this is fate! The God of Destiny has once again witnessed the cycle of twenty-eight years.

Cui Xiaofu closed her eyes extremely tiredly. She wanted to have a good sleep, hoping that she would forget this nightmare tomorrow.

Just as she closed her eyes, she suddenly heard Feng Endao's voice outside the palace, "Shangshu Pei, Shangshu Han, the Empress Dowager has rested. Let's talk about anything tomorrow!"

"But things are very important. We will not disturb the Queen Mother unless it is absolutely necessary." This was Pei You's voice.

Cui Xiaofu seemed to understand something. She turned over and sat up, closed her hair slightly and said, "Honey, let them come in!"

After a moment, Pei You and Han Huan hurried in and bowed to Cui Xiaofu, "I'm sorry to disturb the Queen Mother's rest, but it's important, and I have to do it."

"You don't have to be polite to Secretary Pei, please tell me if you have anything." Cui Xiaofu said tiredly.

"I heard that the emperor had passed away unfortunately, and I was sad. However, the country was still in charge and the country was still there, and I cannot be without a monarch for a day. We both want to discuss with the Empress Dowager and consider establishing a new monarch as soon as possible."

"You ministers have discussed this matter, so there is no need to ask the Ai family for instructions."

"But" Pei You looked at Cui Xiaofu, but the words behind him did not say them.

Cui Xiaofu sneered, "I know that the purpose of not killing the Ai family is to ask the Ai family to recommend him as the new emperor. It seems that he also knows himself!"

At this time, Han Huan sincerely advised, "Empress Dowager, you can't say that. The ascension of His Highness to the throne is what everyone hopes for. At least there will be less killings in the future. The Empress Dowager agreed happily. I don't think he will make things difficult for the Empress Dowager. He will let the Empress Dowager spend a hundred years in the palace. This is a great joy. The Empress Dowager should follow the trend."

‘At least there will be a lot of killings in the future.’ Cui Xiaofu repeated Han Huan’s words twice, and she finally nodded and said, “This sentence is still human words, okay! The Ai family promised you, but I want you to guarantee that he will not kill the Ai family again!”

Pei You and Han Huan quickly gave a deep bow and said in unison: "I am willing to guarantee my life with my life. As long as the Empress Dowager cooperates, Your Highness will definitely not hurt the Empress Dowager."

After receiving the two of them’s solemn guarantees, Cui Xiaofu put down her heart slightly, and she immediately asked, “What are you going to let the Ai family do?”
Chapter completed!